THINKING OUT LOUD || Avengers

-)Eleven: Spiderman Gets a Disney Education(-

For Peter Parker, most days were boring.

School work and homework and being badgered to get real work and the endless tap tap tap of his pencil on a desk, just waiting for the opportunity to race home and pull on a costume. But on that day, he had a physics project to finish, and the school's new initiative about not relying on technology (weird for a science and tech school, but still) had pushed him towards the library, where his endless nights of masked justice-bringing had lead to the inevitable. If by 'inevitable' you mean 'asleep and snoring on a textbook'.

The arrival of the girl with the red beanie had finally stirred him, and Peter was now faced with a darkened library in Brooklyn (because he didn't know which one in Queens Flash was going to, and he wasn't going to take that chance) and the prospect of a very angry Aunt May.

Dani surprised him. She was the nicest criminal that Peter had met in a while, and that one guy down by the comic store near his house had helped him with an algebra question while they were waiting for the police to turn up and arrest him.

"Hello, Peter, Peter Parker." The girl grinned as she shook his hand enthusiastically, the expression infectiously spreading to Peter.

"Hi." Peter said again. It was difficult to see her face in the low light, and everything seemed overshadowed by her anti-covert beanie, "So, um, what are you... What are you doing here?"

Dani gave him a secretive look, "Telepathic communication."

"Oh, cool." Peter nodded before coming up short, "Wait, what?"

She scrunched up her nose adorably, "I shouldn't have said that. It's a secret. Promise not to tell?"

"I do. Promise, I mean." Peter struggled out.

"Well, then," Dani hopped up so that she was sat on the table, legs swinging freely, "You come here often?"

Peter couldn't help but laugh at that. There was something about Dani that instantly set you at ease, like the whole world would be okay as long as she was in it. Fairy tales and Disney castles and unicorns were real for as long as Dani breathed the same air as him. He had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that she had the same effect on everyone she came across.

"I, um, you mean the library or..." He trailed off, trusting Dan to finish for him.

"I did mean this place specifically in the dark, at night, when the only people are in books and it's also slightly illegal." Dani answered.

"I sort of..." He gestured to the textbook, which housed several suspicious pools of what looked to be drool, "Fell asleep."

Dani nodded knowledgably, "I do that sometimes."

"You're English." Peter noticed, "Not that that has anything to do with not sleeping or... I really don't know what I'm saying. I just... Why are you here?"

At that, her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, "It's a long story. I lived here since I was ten."

"But you sound... You still sound English?" Peter stammered.

She shrugged, "It's still home."

New York was like that. It was somewhere to live, a place to stay, to see exciting things happening, to dodge people in the street on the way to wherever. But for most people it would never fully be capable of fulfilling the criteria of 'home'. Peter used to wonder sometimes what that was like, to feel so strongly that you belong somewhere else, that this life was just temporary.

He didn't have to wonder anymore.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Peter suddenly had to dart around a corner to catch sight of Dani, who'd been distracted by a sign hanging from the ceiling: Newspaper Archives.